UK mobile operators invited to help close digital divide

Executives from telecoms groups, including EE, Vodafone and Three, will attend
a meeting with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) today to
discuss rollout of broadband to rural areas of the UK.

Mobile broadband will be faster and cheaper under Ofcom's decisionPhoto: Alamy

This is the first time that mobile operators have been invited to take part in discussions alongside fixed broadband providers about the rollout of superfast broadband to parts of the country that are not currently served by commercial services, according to the Financial Times.

In June 2013, the government announced it had set aside a further £250m (on top of the £530m already allocated to stimulate commercial investment in rural broadband) to extend superfast broadband coverage plans so that 95 per cent of UK premises will have access to superfast broadband by 2017.

It also promised to explore how to expand coverage further using more innovative fixed, wireless and mobile broadband solutions to reach at least 99 per cent of premises in the UK by 2018.

However, DCMS is under pressure to expand the supplier network for its Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) scheme, which is responsible for managing the rural broadband programme, after a report last week by the Public Accounts Committee highlighted that BT has been placed in a "quasi-monopolistic position".

"All of the 26 contracts let by June 2013 had gone to BT and the remaining 18 are likely to follow suit," said Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts. "The consumer is failing to get the benefits of healthy competition and BT will end up owning assets created from £1.2bn of public money."

Mobile operators have called on the government to reconsider its plans for the remaining £250 million of the rural broadband fund, in order to explore alternative options for rural broadband delivery. They have also suggested that BT should make its infrastructure open to mobile operators to aid with the rollout of 4G in rural areas.

“The current BDUK process simply will not deliver value for money nor the rural connectivity that Britain needs. The government should urgently revise the process to encompass wireless 4G in order to make digital Britain a reality,” said a spokesperson for Vodafone UK last week.

It is thought that today's meeting will focus on making the process more competitive and encouraging other suppliers to get involved in the framework. In a Prior Information Notice issued on 28 September, DCMS said that it was particularly keen to see suggestions for how communities could shape "local solutions".

However, it added the caveat that there is no guarantee that the consultation exercise will lead to subsequent procurement activities.

Mobile operators EE, Vodafone and O2 have already announced plans to extend mobile coverage in rural areas of the country. EE claims that its 4G network will cover 98 per cent of the population by the end of 2014, Vodafone is promising the same by the end of 2015, and O2 is obliged to achieve the same by 2017.

O2, Vodafone, EE and Three have also committed to a mobile infrastructure project that will use £150m of state subsidies to deliver mobile services in rural areas where market-driven, private investment doesn’t make sense for mobile operators.